This application claims the priority of Germany application 196 34 508.1, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a covering for vehicle wheels with light-alloy rims during long periods of transport in which the outwardly facing side of the vehicle wheels is covered by a closed plastic sheet, which is fastened to the wheel, such as is known, for example, from use as a standard feature by some vehicle manufacturers.
Many customers order their vehicle with light-alloy rims. Because this optional part is popular among customers, many vehicle manufacturers offer a selection of different designs of light-alloy rims. Light-alloy rims differ from conventional steel rims, in particular from steel rims fitted with hub caps, by greater openness in the region of the wheel disc. In addition to the advantage of good brake ventilation, however, this openness has the disadvantage that the brake disc lying behind the wheel disc is exposed to weathering by salty air during transport of the vehicle, in particular when transported overseas.
Salt-air weathering occurs not only on account of the sea wind when the vehicles are parked in a harbor area, but also on the ship, because the cargo areas are well ventilated with sea air because of the emissions of fuel vapors. Consequently, if the vehicles are left standing for long periods, their brake discs begin to rust in the exposed region, but remain bright in the region of the caliper, where they are protected against salty air. Although the rust covering is rubbed off very quickly by the normal braking action when the vehicle is put into operation, in cases of severe local rusting of the brake disc there may occur slight differences in thickness of the brake disc and, as a result, undesired rubbing of the brakes. This has been observed mainly with open light-metal rims, and only on their outer side. The inner side of the brake disc is protected against salty air by the splash guard usually provided and by the vehicle itself. Therefore, no appreciable rusting has been observed on the inner sides of the brake discs.
With steel rims fitted with hub caps, if the steel rims and the hub caps are permeable to air, the brake disc is protected in a simple and effective way in that, for transporting purposes, the hub cap is clipped onto the wheel with a plastic sheet in between. The sheet may be a plastic bag supplied by the manufacturer of the hub caps as packaging for the hub caps. The hub caps are clipped onto the wheel virtually complete with their sheet packaging. Thereby, virtually no additional effort is required protecting the brake discs.
Light-alloy rims require, however, a separate transport covering for protection against rusting of an outer side of the brake disc. A sheet covering can be realized only by laboriously sticking a self-adhesive plastic sheet onto the wheels. Significant cost factors are, on one hand, the consumption of self-adhesive UV-resistant sheet and, on the other hand, the time spent cutting the sheet into round shapes and manually applying it, without bubbles as far as possible, to the vehicle wheels already on the vehicle. It is then necessary to take into consideration that the self-adhesive sheet must again be removed from the rim without any problems and without leaving any residual material behind, even after the vehicle has been standing in the sun for long periods.
Some vehicle manufacturers protect the brake disc by inserting between the brake disc and the vehicle wheel an inherently rigid bell-shaped molded sheet which reaches over the outer side of the brake disc and the caliper at a distance. It must be possible to turn it with the wheel and the brake disc past the fixed caliper without any hindrance so that the vehicle still remains ready to run. Although this molded sheet offers good protection against rusting of the brake disc during overseas transport, it requires laborious assembly work both when fitting the protector and when removing it, because each time the vehicle wheels have to be taken off and put on again and the vehicle has to be jacked up for this purpose, thus tying up personnel and workshop capacity.
An object of the present invention is to improve the covering so that it is not only inexpensive but in particular is easy to fit, irrespective of the rim design and with the same configuration of the covering for different rim designs, but nevertheless attaches securely to the vehicle wheel and can be removed again just as easily.
This object has been achieved according to the present invention by an inherently rigid, round, closed molded sheet which reaches over the outer side of the light-alloy rim, covering its surface area, as far as over the rim flange and which is press-fitted under prestressing centrally on the vehicle wheel by means of fastening studs molded into the molded sheet, which are adapted in terms of number, position and shape to the wheel bolts or nuts themselves or to the countersunk depressions provided for this purpose in the disks, onto the wheel bolts or nuts and/or into the correspondingly countersunk depressions.
Because of the central clasping of the covering, configured as a closed molded sheet, by way of fastening studs to the wheel bolts/nuts or to the corresponding countersunk depressions, a simple and quick manual fitting and removal of the covering is achieved, and secure retention of the covering on the vehicle wheel also is provided. As a result, the coverings remain firmly attached to the wheel even during driving and/or in strong side wind.
Experience shows that the bolt ring for the wheel fastening bolts is always of the same design in virtually all types of vehicle of a specific vehicle manufacturer, even throughout the different vehicle generations, in terms of the number and size of the bolts and with respect to the pitch circle diameter. Thus, with the wheel coverings clipped into the bolt ring, they can be used or kept unchanged for all types of light-alloy rims, vehicle types and vehicle or rim generations of a vehicle manufacturer. Because the molded sheet is easier to handle during application, also because, if necessary, temporary removal of the covering is readily possible (e.g., for topping up the air in the tires) and, finally because the covering can be removed quickly and without leaving any residual material behind even after use for long periods, the present invention is overall less expensive than, for example, a covering using self-adhesive sheet.